Opposites Attract
by Saf Dawnheart
Summary: To be truly and perfectly honest, Cresselia was getting a bit tired of the "opposites attract" stereotype normally associated with her and her fellow Legends. — Darkrai/Cresselia.


Well, what can I say? My first Legendary-shipping fic was fun to write (even though it took ages and felt awkward sometimes), so I decided to do another one. (Hopefully the second of many more to come, if you saw the ideas on my profile. -shameless plug-)

This story is mainly about LunarEclipseShipping (I hope I got that right; I'm not much of a shipping-name person), or Darkrai/Cresselia. :D

This is also one of my ways of speaking out for the smaller-known Legend ships, like Darkrai/Suicune and Palkia/Giratina - a.k.a., the ones that _don't_ feature the counterparts together. Ironically, the minor pairings in this oneshot are, well, some of the more famous "counterpart" ships: Uxie/Azelf, Groudon/Kyogre, and Arceus/Giratina. Rated for Cresselia's mouth and my bad attempts at humor.

Enjoy!

**_Disclaimer-_** DARKRAI B MINE PLOX?  
Darkrai: ...no.

* * *

It was official. I loathed my status.

Don't get me wrong here. It wasn't that being a Legendary in and of itself evoked such feelings of passionate anger in me – if anything I loved giving "good" dreams to everyone in the world, no matter how much my stupid, schizophrenic, slightly handsome phantom counterpart Darkrai immediately canceled out my efforts with his own brand of karmic nightmares. Compared to most other Legendaries, my job was all too pleasant. Like Giratina, stuck in that stuffy cave that served as the Underworld? Or Heatran, forced to guard the all-too-volatile Stark Mountain with no one to keep him company? Yeah… no thanks.

No, I enjoyed being a Legendary. Besides, if anyone – Pokemon or human alike – ever had the gall to piss me off, I could always just blast them with my psychic power. Or call in Darkrai to give them nightmares every night for the next few years. Ah… déjà vu.

But that, obviously, wasn't what had roused me to complete and utter _abhorrence_ of her status. It wasn't the power – though that was a nice bonus. It wasn't the fame – though that too was a nice bonus.

Wait… As a matter of fact, it _was_ the fame. Being known all around the world as the bringer of undisturbed sleep – a Pokemon "sandman", if you will (I've never understood that little myth anyway; I don't do _sand _and I'm clearly not male) – could be nice, but some days, it was just a royal pain in the ass.

Take today, for example. Uxie, the Being of Knowledge, had finally gotten up the courage to leave her lake-cave after the latest disaster with Azelf – yet another rejection from the ever-oblivious Being of Willpower; apologies and hugs were given all around from every female Legendary but Giratina – and invited me out to Canalave Library, since allegedly Uxie had gone through yet another pile of books (in a matter of weeks, of course; I reflected that Uxie seriously, _seriously_ needed a life). Naturally, having nothing better to do, unless one counted sitting in Fullmoon Island's cave wondering if that tree was going to finally collapse and that little spiel leading to more philosophical thoughts, I acquiesced. We met right outside the city, creative schemes of just _how_ we would get to the library without being seen by the citizens wreathing themselves together in our minds. I thought that my favorite part of these little expeditions with Uxie was not so much the book retrieval itself, though I supposed that that was okay, since "checking out" the books just happened to be the blind pixie's favorite part. No, my favorite part was swooping in, heart pounding in my chest, having turned temporarily invisible; stealing a few novels haphazardly from the shelves; and then promptly leaving, laughing to myself at seeing the poor bastard sitting at the computer give a start and wonder where the hell the books on the second shelf in the Sci-Fi section had gone.

Yeah, I'm just a little bit devious. Deal with it.

Anyway, there we were, having just escaped the library – Arceus, I make this sound so dramatic – and flying back off to Uxie's cave so we could drop those sunsabitches off (yeah, you'd think what with my oh-so-powerful psychic power and all, it'd be a snap to carry a few books. You obviously don't know Uxie very well). Strained as I was to keep the pile of books I was "holding" up in the air at our level, I still heard the little kids down in Canalave talking all too well as we flew over it. What they said made me stop in my tracks abruptly, so that I nearly careened right into Uxie's back.

"…nice drawing you did of Cresselia there!"

_Wait._ My carmine-colored eyes narrowed. _Great. It seems I have a fanclub. _

Ignoring Uxie's demands as to why the hell exactly I had stopped, I all but thrust my pile of books at her and dropped slightly to get a better look. The snot-nosed brat was holding up an all-but-ragged drawing of…

Of…

_Holy… crap._

"Is that supposed to be you?" asked Uxie, levitating a little closer to me and still looking a little disgruntled at my immediate dismissal of her. I couldn't exactly listen, since my eyes were still trained on the drawing. All in all, it was a pretty nice sketch – old, obviously, from the way its corners were crinkled and the paper was slightly ripped, but done with what looked like the finest colored pencils, and put together in a way that captured the curve of my body and the color of my eyes (normally people assume that I have _maroon_ eyes. What the hell, _artistes._ What the hell.). Ordinarily I would be looking bemusedly at Uxie and questioning her as to how exactly she could see the picture when she was, oh, I don't know, _blind._ But right now, I was too busy feeling shock and, now that the numbness of my surprise was wearing off, an edge of anger.

Because in that picture, the kid had drawn, in a swirl of dark ebony that thoroughly contrasted the dark pink entwined with it, me… and Darkrai. Holding each other.

_Oh… crap._

I don't know what got my heart pounding more: anger at the misconception, or… something else. No, it was _not_ excitement; Arceus, you're one of them too, aren't you? One of those people who assumes that just because Legendaries spend so much time together with their counterparts, a feeling beyond friendship _must_ have to develop.

Well, hate to break it to ya, but that's not true. If anything, I _hate_ that stupid, schizophrenic, "tall-dark-and-handsome" phantom. Most counterparts are supposed to set off the other, make the other's job a little easier – well, Darkrai certainly fails in _that_ category. In fact, let's just say he's not even my counterpart! There! We can't "have" to fall in love _now,_ now can we?

Oh dammit, I just contradicted myself.

At any rate, just because I'm in all-too-close proximity with Darkrai, doesn't mean I care for him in any way, shape, or form. And for the record, the only reason I was so concerned about the whole fiasco with Dialga and Palkia in Alamos Town was because if anything happened to Darkrai, I'd be catching hell from Arceus for the rest of my life (because apparently, everything must have "balance" – land for sea, fire for water, nightmare for good dream).

Really, I mean it. I wasn't worried for _him, per se_.

"What're _you_ so riled-up about?" Uxie asked scornfully, snapping me out of my reverie. I took a few deep breaths, because that's what Mesprit always recommends for a temper threatening to break the surface – really, _she's_ one to talk: Being of Emotion, my ass. "What did that kid draw that's angering you so?"

"Me and Darkrai," I snorted in response. I'd never hear the end of it from Uxie if I kept it a secret, after all.

"So what's the problem with –?" Then it seems to hit her all at once. "Oh," she chuckled, her long, thin tail delicately sweeping up to cover her mouth. _"I_ get it."

"It means _nothing_ to me, okay?" I snapped back, flaring up at once. Oh crap… third stage: Anger. Stupid brain of mine, skipping right over Denial… "And _no one_ – I mean, _no one,_ especially not Darkrai – hears about this, or you'll find those precious books of yours shoved in a particularly unpleasant place. Got it?"

"Methinks the lady doth protest too much," Uxie quoted, and laughed when I issued a low, grunting snarl. "Alright, alright. Relax, will you? You're worse than Giratina before she figured out she had a crush on Arceus."

"Do _not_ compare me to –"

But Uxie had flown off before I could say anything more.

It was official. I loathed my status.

* * *

So, now here I sit in my cave at Fullmoon Island, narrowing my eyes against the sunlight streaming in from outside and growling to myself to muffle the sounds of the Pidgey and Starly chirping.

Why… the… hell… can't… I… get… that… stupid… drawing… out… of… my… head?!

Dammit, maybe it wouldn't have been as bad if the kid hadn't drawn it so well. If it'd been just a matched set of pink-and-black scribbles, with just his parents reassuring him that he was indeed the next da Vinci, _maybe_ I would've just laughed it off.

Yes, I _can_ laugh things off. I'm not this pissy _all_ the time, you know.

…really.

But _damn_, that kid had clearly put his all into it. Maybe they'd sent him to the art school in Lilycove or something, because it was so realistic. The tender expressions as my and Darkrai's duplicates had looked at each other seemed so _real,_ the way his scraggly arms encircled my frame and the way my head pressed into his shoulder…

Ack. I'm not thinking about it. I'm not thinking about it. I'm not thinking about it.

I'm thinking about it…

…_so_ thinking about it.

I hit my head against the wall once, and then decide that the loss of brain cells isn't worth it and stop. A loud groan escapes me despite myself and, disregarding my seconds-ago decision, my head finds its way to the wall again and stays there so I'm leaning against the cave wall. Hm… I never knew this cave was made of limestone before.

Uxie's words come back to me. _"You're worse than Giratina before she figured out she had a crush on Arceus."_

Yeah, Giratina likes Arceus. The poor bitch from hell (no pun intended) didn't figure it out until long after the rest of us had, and by then, there was no returning Shaymin's "precious" flowers to their un-crushed state, no taking back all the "good dreams" I'd had to give her to get those sappy thoughts of the God Pokemon out of her head.

Amazingly, Arceus likes her back. Which is weird, because I never see her talking to anyone else. It was bound to happen, I suppose.

…but that is just _one_ example of the "opposites attract" thing! It proves _nothing_ that Giratina just happened to fall for Arceus, okay? Just because Groudon and Kyogre also stopped griping at each other long enough to admit they liked each other doesn't mean anything, either!

…alright, so maybe my mind went from Shock, to Anger, and _then_ to Denial. Does it matter?

Either way, it's driving me insane!

"Er… Cresselia?"

_HolyfreakingArceusisthatwhoIthinkitis –_

"Cresselia, are you okay in there?"

_HolyfreakingArceusit_is.

I'm sure that somewhere far away our dear God Pokemon is sneezing his poor heavenly ass off, but right now I don't really have time to think about it, since the phantom asshole himself comes floating right into my cave. One cyan eye is narrowed slightly more than the other, giving the illusion that he's raised an eyebrow when he obviously _has_ no eyebrows, and the spiked red collar-like appendage covers the bottom half of his face, as usual. The breeze tugs almost playfully at his white "hair," a stroke of irony considering who he is. His arms are currently folded across his chest in his standard pose.

Staring at his lean dark form, that stupid picture comes back into my mind again, of those folded arms wrapped around me and those cyan eyes _looking_ at me and –

Oh Arceus, I'm blushing. _Go away, blush._

Darkrai clearly notices, because this time both eyes widen a bit (both "eyebrows" raising) before returning to normal. "I heard you groaning in here," he said, a little hesitantly. He scanned the area before his eyes landed back on me again. "You feeling all right?" Teasingly, he added, "Did you eat those berries without knowing what they were again?"

I flinch. I try to _block out_ all the unpleasant stuff, thanks very much. "If you must know, I was just _thinking,"_ I answer in what I hope was a cool voice. "And that was one time!"

Darkrai tilts his head a little to the side. "So… you need to groan when you think?"

"Erm, yes." _Smooth, Cresselia. Very smooth. _"Don't you?"

A smile is audible in his voice. "No, I can honestly say I don't."

Unconsciously, warmth spreads through my body with treacherous fingers at his next words. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Because when you fly over this island and hear… _that, _you tend to get a little worried."

He was… worried about me?

Wait, no, I don't care if he was worried or not!

"Well, you shouldn't have worried," I retort, narrowing my eyes. "I was _fine."_

Darkrai's own pale blue orbs become slits as well. "In that case, I'm terribly sorry for worrying about my counterpart. Che," he says suddenly; I guess I had a shocked expression on my face. "Don't get me wrong here; I'd be lectured by Arceus for the rest of my life if anything happened to you."

Sound familiar?

…maybe we _are_ more similar than I'd thought.

He turns to leave, and then I feel an impulse seize me. "Wait!" I shout.

He stops and simply levitates there, not even turning to face me.

I take a deep breath. Here's another thing Mesprit recommends deep breathing for: getting ready to do or say something that will probably have a huge impact. "I… I think you really were worried."

"So I was," he mutters; but he does face me this time. "What about it?"

His tone nearly puts me off again, but I restrain the snarl threatening to free itself from my lips and continue. "Well… um… thanks for caring."  
"You're welcome," he answers, stoic as always, and starts to float off again.

"Darkrai! Stay here or so help me I will… I'll… I'll do _something!"_

To my complete and utter shock, he stays.

Wow. Maybe my threatening voice is getting better; I _have_ been working on it lately.

"Well…" I hesitate, and then blurt it out. "Maybe I liked that you were something besides sadistic or totally emotionless. Maybe I liked that you were worried – for _me."_

He says nothing.

Then he turns around very slowly, and I spot something on his face that I've never seen before.

Was that a… a _smile?_

Oh Arceus, I think I'm gonna melt.

"Alright," he replies, still smiling. It occurs to me how badly I've wanted him to do that – just stop hiding behind the nightmare-giver façade, the stupid, schizophrenic, unbearably mysterious phantom, and just smile. "Duly noted."

He comes closer, so close, so unbearably close that I can smell the scent of Newmoon Island's peaches and pine trees and cinnamon on him…

…and then pulls me into an embrace.

Scratch that. I _know_ I'm gonna melt now.

Part of me is shocked that the stupid, schizophrenic, slightly handsome phantom I've come to know would do this – to _me,_ nonetheless – but the majority just doesn't care.

Dear Arceus, it's like a rendition of that kid's drawing.

"And maybe," Darkrai whispers to me, tightening his arms around me just a little, "maybe _I_ liked that you got worried when I nearly died in Alamos."

I pull away and narrow my eyes. "Hey, don't get me wrong, okay? That actually_ was_ just because Arceus would lecture me for the rest of my life."

Darkrai laughs that rare, husky laugh that oddly makes me feel even gooier inside (if possible) at my words. "You're such a liar."

"Che," is all I say in response.

* * *

So yes, the whole "opposites attract" thing is total bull sometimes. Yes, the publicity is a pain in the ass sometimes, and yes, having false rumors that you're attracted to your mysterious, enigmatic counterpart spread around can all but push you over the edge.

But you know what? Sometimes it's true.

And I know I wouldn't have it any other way.

* * *

Standard ending complaints applied. Yes, that is my traditional ending quote, and I'm sticking with it. XD


End file.
